Ella Costan-Toth: Recent Paintings

ELLA COSTAN TOTH
Recent Paintings

chashama 303 Gallery
303 10th Avenue
(Btw 27th and 28th Streets)
New York, NY

September 6 – 16, 2012

Opening Reception
Friday, September 7, 6 – 8 pm

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday: 10:30 am – 6 pm

Inspired by organized religion's classical paintings that idolized religious figures for followers to worship and emulate, Toth has updated the subject matter with her paintings of present day idols – celebrities and public figures. Traditional houses of worship have been replaced by contemporary, often digital spaces for communal gathering via TV, magazines, and especially the Internet. Endemic to her generation, Toth’s image source begins with photographs found online that she then manipulates to combine elements of the reverent and exploitative aesthetic of both the old and the new.

The ten portraits in the show range from a young James Dean wearing Elizabeth Taylor's headdress from Cleopatra, Dave Vanian from the British 70s band The Damned, a young Elizabeth Taylor posed wearing a Viking helmet, and Ronnie Spector as a bride with a veil made of a clear plastic tarp – a sculptural element that is incorporated into several paintings to further emphasize the tension between the historical and contemporary in the work.

A separate closet-sized dressing room features an installation of a vanity with lights. Here the reflection is replaced by a painting of the robot Maria from Metropolis. Toth’s portraits include an intense gaze - often staring right at and confronting the viewer - forcing an interaction in which the audience not only considers the subject, but eventually themselves as well.

Toth has refined alteration and created a language that is her own. By converting an image to an oil portrait, she raises it, then defaces it with a pre-calculated intent, creating an image that leads the viewer on a journey of precious/not precious- made precious once again.

Artist's Bio:
Ella Costan Toth was born in New York City in 1989. She graduated with a BFA in May 2012 from California Institute of the Arts where she studied with Martin Kersels, Tom Lawson, and John Mandel. Toth’s work was seen most recently in “Nose Bleed” a group show at Fuse Gallery, NY. She currently lives and works in New York City.